Beyond hoops: Fencing, CrossFit at SportsFest

MARGIE PETERSON/SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL

Brothers Arthur Leung, 7, left, of Hartsdale, N.Y., crosses swords with his brother Hugh, 5, during a youth fencing competition at SportsFest Sunday. Their mother, Jing Leung, is getting all down in the background.

Brothers Arthur Leung, 7, left, of Hartsdale, N.Y., crosses swords with his brother Hugh, 5, during a youth fencing competition at SportsFest Sunday. Their mother, Jing Leung, is getting all down in the background. (MARGIE PETERSON/SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

Margie PetersonOf The Morning Call

The pulse of SportsFest at Cedar Creek Park in Allentown is the steady drumbeat of basketballs hitting the asphalt seemingly nonstop, dribbled by hundreds of high school players from around the region.

But on Sunday there were other events that shared the park which had smaller, but no less devoted followings.

Perhaps the fastest-growing sport of the festival is Test Your Metal, which is a CrossFit competition that attracts fantastically fit people who can power lift, do repeated vertical jumps onto a 20-inch box in quick succession, walk on their hands, touch their toes to their hands repeatedly while hanging from a bar and do other timed exercises.

Sunday’s contest, sponsored by CrossFit Advanced of Easton, pitted teams of four — two men and two women — against each other.

Scores of athletes performed in each heat of the event as driving rock music played over the sound system.

After finishing their heat, participants Jessica Sims of Southampton in Bucks County and Amanda Feist of Allentown said CrossFit was integral to their daily lives.

“It changed my life,” said Sims, who teaches tennis and attends nursing school. “When I first started, I couldn’t do a pushup. It’s a way of life, honestly.”

Feist said she got into CrossFit about 2 ½ years ago because her boyfriend was involved and now she trains year round and her social life revolves around CrossFit.

CrossFit as a brand is less than two decades old, having started as a company in 2000.

Near the other end of the park, Matthew Mitchell and his son Eric of Warrington, Bucks County, set up the swords and other equipment for perhaps the oldest sport at the festival — fencing, which traces its beginnings to the 12th century.

Matthew Mitchell, the tournament director for the Liberty Fencing Club in Warrington, said one of the great things about the sport is it tests both mental and physical agility. Plus, it’s good for all ages.

“Fencing is unusual in that this is a sport where you have 55-year-olds competing with teens,” Mitchell said. “I have a friend who started at 72. Fencing is commonly called ‘physical chess.’”

Fencers compete using one of three weapons — a foil, a saber or an epee. They gain points by touching the swords to target areas of their opponent’s body, which is covered in special protective clothing. Competitors also wear special masks to avoid any head injuries.

A fencer will lunge as part of the attack and his opponent will parry in defense. The mental part comes in when a fencer tries to cause his opponent to make a mistake and then take advantage of that mistake, Mitchell said. For example, he might feint high and then go low with his saber.

Despite what it might look like, Mitchell said fencing is very safe because of all of the rules and protective gear. The points of the swords are not sharp.

“Of all the sports in the 2012 Olympics, it had the lowest injury rate,” he said. “The blades are not sharp.”

Thanks to technology, fewer referees are needed for each match. Touches now can be registered electronically, with the gear.

Rick and Jing Leung of Hartsdale, N.Y., brought their sons, Arthur, 7, and Hugh, 5, to fence during the youth competition on Sunday. They were the only competitors in that event so they faced each other and Arthur — like older brothers everywhere — was none too happy when Hugh started winning.

Rick Leung said he’d started fencing in high school in Hong Kong and took it up in the United States after immigrating for graduate school in Wisconsin. He likes the mental and physical workout it provides.

“It’s a great game because it’s very physical … but you have to be very flexible,” he said. “Every game is different.”

SportsFest was packed with athletes Sunday but there were also some no-shows. Director Ray Atiyeh said the WXW Wrestling Show that was slated for 3 p.m. Sunday at Cedar Creek Park was canceled due to an organizer’s illness.

The First Responder Competition also was canceled, as was the youth Flag Football event because of problems with the organizers, he said.

Atiyeh said the turnout of SportsFest participants and spectators remains high, but the late cancellations mean SportsFest will be evaluating each sport to make sure organizers are committed.